The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Monday, June 16, 2008

For real?

1. Jack Thompson hand-delivereda letter to Chief Judge Moreno.2. That letter said in part: "We find yesterday that enemy combatants at Guantanamo are to get more due process from federal judges than what I am to have. I guess my "mistake" was not killing 3000 people to make my point... I demand a hearing."3. After receiving the letter, Moreno sent U.S. Marshals to Thompson's house.4. Thompson then wrote this letter to Moreno, which said in part:I was visited today by two U.S. Marshals who were nice gentlemen, and very professional and courteous in their dealings with me. My complaint is not with them...

I have been asking the Justice Department simply to meet with me about [the video game industry's] criminal targeting of me for harm... Our US Attorney here has obstructed that effort... Instead of being afforded the Justice Department investigation to which I am entitled, I get today harassment from that same Justice Department...

When you and the Justice Department dispatch U.S. Marshals to my home because of a letter I wrote you last week complaining about misconduct by District Court Judges here in the Southern District, the purpose of that visit was to intimidate and harass me...

The notion that I pose some sort of physical threat to you or to the judiciary or to anyone else down here is a cruel joke. The two Marshals said, “If you had actually hand-delivered the letter to Judge Moreno, we would be concerned.” To that I said, “But I did. I did that last week because the gentlemen at the metal detectors would not deliver it, and THEY TOLD ME TO DELIVER IT TO YOU. I buzzed into your inner offices on the thirteenth floor, and I politely handed the letter to your clerk, who politely took it.

If I were a danger to anyone, that would have been the time for me to have proven it, right? In fact, I have never threatened anyone in my entire life, and you know that, and the Marshals said they knew that. They were apologetic about being dispatched to my home. This is outrageous, Judge. Simply outrageous. 5. Thompson then sent this letter to the House Judiciary Committee.

Is all this for real?

Thompson always manages to weave in to his letters and motions the current event of the day and then somehow make those events about him. He has material from the Supreme Court Guantanamo case, the Kozinski stuff, and other current events. Sorry for ruining the next half hour of your day as you go read this stuff. You won't be able to turn away....

Why the hell would this guy send a letter to a federal judge implying that he should kill 3,000 people. Mr. Thompson is clearly not well. When a nut like him starts talking about killing people, we need to stand up and take notice. Its simple prevention.

So,suddenly because 3:28 PM supports the considered actions of the chief judge of the district, he must be a prosecutor?

Maybe 3:28 PM is simply another judge who is merely concerned that a man who is capable of such disturbing statements and well known erratic prior behavior may at some point stop writing letters and start taking dangerous actions. A simple knock-and-talk to assuage those concerns is prudent, not heavy handed. Imagine if such limited precautionary measures were not taken and Mr. Thompson took violent action to get the attention he wants and feels he deserves. Then the critics would argue that a judge with such a disturbing letter sat on his hands and did nothing. No, no one is saying Thompson is going to fly into a building and kill 3,000 people, but with words like those he chose to put in a letter to a public official, far less violent actions are not beyond the realm of possibility.

The Southern District of Florida blog was started by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.